Zhai Xiaobing with Ai Weiwei.
Even beyond China’s Great Firewall, Twitter is not always a safe haven for the country’s more outspoken critics. Just before the 18th Party Congress began, Zhai Xiaobing, a fund manager in Beijing, was arrested for a tweet deemed to “spread false terrorist information” (涉嫌散布虚假恐怖信息):
#剧透推 #慎入 死神来了6即将上映。大会堂突然倒塌，正在开会的2000多人只有7人幸免，事后却又一一离奇死亡。是上帝的游戏，还是死神的怒火，神秘数字18怎样开启地狱之门？11月8日全球院线震撼登场！
— 星河舰队 (@Stariver) November 5, 2012
#SpoilerTweet #Enter-at-your-own-peril “Final Destination 6” has arrived. In which the Great Hall of the People collapses all of a sudden. All 2,000+ people meeting there died except for 7 of them. But afterwards, the seven die one after another in bizarre ways. Is it a game of God, or the wrath of Death? How will 18, the mysterious number, unlock the gate of Hell? Premieres globally on November the 8th to bring you an earthshaking experience! (translated by Yaxue Cao)
Zhai has not been released since his November 7 detention. An online petition [zh] for his release, signed by prominent Chinese activists such as Ai Weiwei and Hu Jia, has collected 419 signatures as of this posting. “We hope the the Beijing police shows a sense of humor and do not create a big incident out of a small issue,” writes petition author Bei Feng (Wen Yunchao). “In particular, do not ruin the image of the new leadership soon after the 18th Party Congress.” Zhai’s is not the first Twitter-related arrest in China.
Zhai, whose Twitter handle is @Stariver, studied ancient (pre-Qin) literature at Peking University, and formerly worked in the media. His acerbic tweets make no excuses for the violence and corruption in China, while images of armed police in Lhasa streets and protests in Hong Kong against patriotic education mingle with cat and food photos. Yaxue Cao of Seeing Red in China writes, “In Twitter’s Chinese community, @Stariver is known for his cool and biting comments about current events in China that cut the froth and burst false ‘hopes.’ He is also known for the depth of his knowledge in classics.”
CDT Chinese has collected some of Zhai’s more urgent tweets, translated here by Mengyu Dong:
如果不是为了生物多样性的考虑，我相信上帝不会造出“中国人民的老朋友”这种畜牲。
— 星河舰队 (@Stariver) October 16, 2012
Stariver: If not in consideration of biodiversity, I believe God wouldn’t have created those beasts, the “old friends of the Chinese people.”
各级网警和小秘书团结协作，众志成城，投身救灾抢险工作，将受灾死亡人数牢牢控制在37人，用青春热血谱写了一曲忠诚的赞歌。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) July 25, 2012
Stariver: All levels of Internet policemen and little secretaries coordinated together, used their united will as strength and devoted to disaster relief work. They kept the number of victims to 37, and composed a faithful song of praise with their youth and ardor.
Noticing that the death toll was reported at 37 for multiple incidents across China this summer, netizens call this the “Law of 37” (死亡37定律). Zhai wrote this tweet soon after the Beijing flood.
人民日报的任务是把中国打扮成白富美，全球都不如它牛逼；环球时报的任务是把中国打扮成迫害狂，全球都是针对中国的阴谋陷害；新闻联播的任务是把中国打扮成班干部，德智体美劳全面发展，还能一帮一一对红。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) July 26, 2012
Stariver: The task of the People’s Daily is to dress up China as “white, rich, and beautiful,” the f**king best in the world; the task of the Global Times is to dress up China as a paranoid, as if the whole world is scheming against it; the task of Xinwen Lianbo is to dress up China as a class leader who is moral, intelligent, physically fit, tasteful and socially responsible, and can pair up with partners and help each other to develop.
文革暴力，是匪帮组织暴力对于底层民众的裹挟，是极端程序邪恶和实质邪恶对普遍人性黑暗面的强力激发，对此不了解，就是历史愚昧；民间暴力，是对匪帮利益勒索和国家机器暴力镇压的反抗，是在程序正义无可诉求之下的最后防线，对此的否定，就是现实无耻。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) July 28, 2012
Stariver: The violence of the Cultural Revolution was the coercion of the lowest in society by organized gangs, the brutal excitation of humanity’s dark side by essential and programmatic evil. Whoever does not understand this is ignorant of history. The violence among the people is revolt against extortion by gangs and the brutal oppression of the state apparatus, the final line of defense in a system where it is impossible to appeal for justice. Whoever denies this is truly shameless.
官场小说的流行源于受众对中国政治“宫廷模式”神秘感的追求，对政治黑帮斗争之“阴谋艺术”和官商经济权力寻租的崇拜。它唯一想要证明的，就是官场规则的合理性。
— 星河舰队 (@Stariver) June 19, 2012
Stariver: The popularity of novels about official circles originates from reader’s pursuit of the mystique of China’s “court” politics, the worship of the “art of conspiracy” in struggles among political gangs, as well as the worship of rent-seeking among politician and businessmen. The only thing it intends to prove is the rationality of officialdom’s rules.
RT @stariver要是有人一边端着碗吃屎，一边埋怨桌子没擦干净，你一定认为他是个傻逼。要是一个人一边无视当局的暴力，一边对民间行为表现出理中客的洁癖，他就是个吃屎还埋怨桌子不干净的傻逼。
— 那谁谁 (@na_sheishei) July 9, 2012
Stariver: If someone eats from a bowl of crap he is clutching, yet at the same time complains that the table is not clean, you’ll definitely figure him for a loon. If someone ignores the atrocity of state power, yet shows pathological concern for the cleanliness of the people’s conduct, then he is the loon who eats crap and complains about the dirtiness of the table.
Stariver: 9.18子曰：“吾未见好德如好色者也。”～孔丘局长说：我就没见过在小姐面前还能坚持原则的。#论语今译# Stariver: (9.18) Confucius said: “I have not seen one who loves virtue as much as he loves beauty.” ~ Bureau Director Confucius said: I have not seen someone who can uphold his principles in the presence of a hooker. #ModernAnalects#
重庆打黑成果表明，在任何地方以任何方式惩治任何党员干部，都可以得到人民群众的拥护。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) March 19, 2012
Stariver: The outcome of the “beat black” in Chongqing shows that people support any punishment of any cadre, regardless of when, where, or how. –Chinese re-tweet robot
牛 RT @stariver: 烈士求民主，今世壮心犹可励；英杰为自由，后生远志必行之。 — Jian Alan Huang (@hnjhj) April 8, 2012
Stariver: The martyr pursues democracy; those ambitious among us today will still find him encouraging. The hero seeks liberty; those idealists of tomorrow must pursue it.
每次倒烟灰的时候，我都觉得是在倒自己的骨灰。
— 星河舰队 (@Stariver) December 24, 2011
Stariver: Every time I throw away cigarette ashes, it feels like I’m dumping the ashes of my own bones.
First tweet translated by Yaxue Cao. Excerpts from petition translated by Oiwan Lam of Global Voices.
